History Literature / TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents

* ABoyAndHisX: Averted. Maurice does not like being referred to as anyone's cat.

* DoNotGoGentle / DontFearTheReaper: Darktan manages to combine both of these tropes in his RousingSpeech to the rats: death in itself is not something to be feared, but the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Bone Rat]] will only pass you over if you can look him in the eyes. Given that it's the Disc, he's likely not speaking figuratively.

* {{Expy}}: At first glance, and indeed at second glance, Maurice can come across as one for [[Discworld/MovingPictures Gaspode the Wonder Dog]]; Maurice's OriginStory is similar to Gaspode's second origin (normal stray animals made intelligent from exposure to magical garbage), they're both, on the whole, smarter than the humans they hang out with and use similar tactics in manipulating said humans, and they are both ''masters'' of [[DeadpanSnarker snide and sarcastic comments]]. As the story goes on, however, it turns out that despite similar set-ups and circumstances, the two animals are actually very different when it comes down to it -- where Gaspode is ultimately a pessimist who loves to wallow in self-pity and set himself up as a tragic hero, Maurice has a more positive outlook on life and is a lot more unashamedly a self-centered JerkWithAHeartOfGold -- with a bit of a DarkAndTroubledPast. Although, given how Gaspode mentions that other animals were affected by the magical garbage, the rats' intelligence comes from the same source.

* GenreSavvy: Malicia insists on ''always'' seeing things in terms of stories, ranging from fairy tales to KidDetective novels like ''Tom Swift'', ''The Hardy Boys'', and ''The Famous Five'' (she claims at one point that four kids and a dog is "the right number for an adventure"). Furthermore, she has trouble in coping with subversions and exceptions, and [[HeroicWannabe always makes herself out to be the main character of the "story"]].

* HumansAreCthulhu: Dangerous Beans is baffled by the difference between the behavior of the humans in ''Mr. Bunnsy Has An Adventure'' and the behavior of the humans he actually encounters.

** The Ratcatchers themselves have a variant going, extorting money from the town to "get rid of" a plague of rats that don't exist, except in their own rat-breeding cages.

-->'''Darktan:''' I can see I'm going to have to watch you, Sardines. You think like Maurice.\\
'''Sardines:''' Don't worry about me, boss. I'm small. I gotta dance. I wouldn't be any good at leadering.

* PardonMyKlingon: The Clan and Maurice swear in Rat and Cat. Apparently as a result of spending so much time with the Clan, Keith (the stupid-looking kid) also swears in Rat.

* PointyHairedBoss: Poor Hamnpork didn't take the shift to sentience particularly well, being fairly old at the time, and is now reduced to being a figurehead for Peaches and Darktan. However, Hamnpork seems to be well aware of this, and quietly grooming Darktan as his successor. Also, while Hamnpork might not be much of a peacetime leader, he ''is'' a highly competent scrapper and decent tactician.

* RatKing: [[spoiler: The true villain of the story. Spider, so-called because it's made from eight young rats (eight being a number of great occult significance on the Discworld), has psychic powers so potent it can not only control rats and see anything they can see, but also influence human behavior. It can even strip away the magical awareness given to the protagonist rats and cat, making them ordinary creatures. Horribly, making a Rat King is part of the qualification for mastery in the Ratcatchers Guild, suggesting that there are many of these things across the Disc.]]

** Confronting [[spoiler:Spider the RatKing]] is so horrifying, it robs some of the Clan of their speech and sentience. This is also the fate of Ginger, a talking cat in ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia The Last Battle]]'', when he comes face to face with the demon/god [[GodOfEvil Tash]].

** When the rats get philosophical about what happens after you die, one rat is being expressively skeptical and doubting everything. His name turns out to be Tomato, which makes him a [[Literature/TheBible Doubting Tom.]]

* SympatheticMurderBackstory: Maurice [[spoiler:once ate a talking rat. However, he was only a dumb animal at the time, and had no way of knowing until he gained his intelligence from said meal]]. The guilt is shown to be why he's so careful about what he eats.

* WaifProphet: Dangerous Beans.

* YouDidntAsk: What Kieth says when Maurice is surprised to learn that the Stupid-Looking Kid has a name, and hadn't mentioned it before.

The 28th ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book, and the first written for young adults.

Maurice, a streetwise tomcat, [[MonsterProtectionRacket has the perfect money-making scam]]. He's found a stupid-looking kid who plays a pipe, and he has his very own plague of rats -- rats who are strangely educated, so Maurice can no longer think of them as "lunch". [[ThePiedPiperOfHamelin And everyone knows the stories about rats and pipers.]] When they reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, the little con suddenly goes down the drain. For someone there is playing a different tune. A dark, shadowy tune. Something very, very bad is waiting in the cellars. The educated rats must learn a new word. Evil.

* CatchPhrase: Darktan, in the BBC radio drama, gets one with "Here endeth the lesson," usually said after he's done making a point.

* FirstPersonSmartass: Maurice, in the BBC radio drama, narrates the story, with a bit of extra snark added. [[spoiler:The one he's telling the story to is an unresponsive (and dead) Dangerous Beans, while they're both in Death's domain, and Maurice is basically doing a "how did we end up here?" recount.]]

* IdiotBall: Maurice briefly picks it up in the BBC radio play adaptation when he reveals his ability to talk to Malicia (as opposed to the book where he reveals it in a moment of shock and horror), though, since he immediately [[LampshadedTrope Lampshades]] it and for the rest of the story behaves in an intelligent manner, this can probably be said to be a RuleOfFunny:
-->'''Malicia:''' Everyone knows cats can't talk -- can you, Puss?\\
'''Maurice:''' I can't say a single word!\\
'''Malicia:''' ''Hah!''\\
'''Keith:''' ''Maurice!''\\
'''Maurice:''' ''Damn!'' I just fell for the oldest trick in the Talking Cat Book!

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Doubling as ParentalBonus; in the BBC radio drama, Darktan's voice, accent and general mannerisms are ''very'' clearly based on Creator/SeanConnery.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: What do you get when you MindRape intelligent talking cat that is terrified shitless for the reason of being surrounded by hundreds of VERY big rats? When you mind rape it so hard that there's no mind left any more, that all the traces of intelligence and even common sense completely disappear? Answer: "A clever cat, but still... Just a cat. Nothing but a cat. All the way to the forest and the cave, the fang and the claw... Just a cat. [[ArcWords And you can always trust a cat to be a cat.]]", indeed. Cue CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

* GroinAttack: [[spoiler:How one rat can take down a battle-hardened terrier when trapped in a ring with walls too high to escape normally.]] It was [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome utterly epic.]]

* CatsHaveNineLives: [[spoiler:Helpful when BalancingDeathsBooks.]]

* GenreSavvy: Malicia from ''The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents'' insists on ''always'' seeing things in terms of stories, ranging from fairy tales to KidDetective novels like ''Tom Swift'', ''The Hardy Boys'', and ''The Famous Five'' (she claims at one point that four kids and a dog is "the right number for an adventure"). Furthermore, she has trouble in coping with subversions and exceptions, and [[HeroicWannabe always makes herself out to be the main character of the "story"]].

* CrossDressingVoices: In the BBC radio drama, Nourishing (who is clearly referred to as female) is voiced by a man. Interestingly enough, Fresh and Inbrine (who are clearly referred to as male) are voiced by women.

* FakeAmerican: In the audiobook version, Stephen Briggs reads Maurice's lines in a faux-American accent, giving him a casual "used car salesman" voice.

* [[spoiler:BalancingDeathsBooks: Maurice gives up one of his lives to save Dangerous Beans.]]

* [[ConMan Con Cat]]: Maurice is the brains of the operation.

* [[spoiler: DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Maurice pounces on the Death of Rats to protect Dangerous Beans, then stands there with the Grim Squeaker in his mouth, stunned by the realization of how much trouble he's bound to be in for...]]

* [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse What Happened To The Keekee?]]: It's never stated what eventually became of the female rat Dangerous Beans touches paws with. [[spoiler: Nor what happened to the eight blind keekees who were freed when Maurice bit through the tail-knot that merged them as Spider: did they regain their individuality, become comatose, or just drop dead?]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Doubling as ParentalBonus; in the BBC radio drama, Darktan's voice, accent and general mannerisms are ''very'' clearly based on SeanConnery.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Out-of-universe. WordOfGod is that his name is pronounced 'MOR-riss', not 'maw-REES'. This is the case in the audiobook. Why Terry didn't just name him "Morris" is anyone's guess.

* BadAss: Darktan, the Clan's trap-disarming expert [[spoiler:and eventual leader]].

* FatAndSkinny: The rat catchers. Lampshaded by Malicia, who assumes that since they're the bumbling villains, there's a ManBehindTheMan.

* RatKing: [[spoiler: The true villain of the story. Spider, so-called because it's made from eight young rats (eight being a number of great occult significance on the Discworld), has psychic powers so potent it can not only control rats and see anything they can see, but also influence human behavior. It can even strip away the magical awareness given to the protagonist rats and cat, making them ordinary creatures. Horribly, making a Rat King is part of the qualification for mastery in the Ratcatchers Guild, suggesting that there are many of these things across the Disc.

* AnimalEyeSpy: The Rat King can do this with any animal. [[spoiler: Even Maurice.]]

* ArcNumber: Continuing a Literature/{{Discworld}} tradition of 8 being a magically-potent and dangerous number, there are eight [[spoiler: blind rats that comprise the Rat King]].

* AttackItsWeakPoint: Apparently [[spoiler: cutting the knot in the tails of a Rat King turns it back into a bunch of ordinary rats]].

* HeroicWillpower: The Rat King's PsychicPowers can paralyze a creature in its tracks, or strip it of sapience. Little, weak, blind Dangerous Beans feels that power and ignores it.

* RodentsOfUnusualSize: The Ratcatchers [[spoiler: acting under the Rat King's influence]] try to breed larger and larger rats for their rat-coursing pit.

** Confronting [[spoiler:Spider the Rat King]] is so horrifying, it robs some of the Clan of their speech and sentience. This is also the fate of Ginger, a talking cat in ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia The Last Battle]]'', when he comes face to face with the demon/god [[GodOfEvil Tash]].

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: What do you get when you MindRape intelligent talking cat that is terrified sh*tless for the reason of being surrounded by hundreds of VERY big rats? When you mind rape it so hard that there's no mind left any more, that all the traces of intelligence and even common sense completely disappear? Answer: "A clever cat, but still... Just a cat. Nothing but a cat. All the way to the forest and the cave, the fang and the claw... Just a cat. [[ArcWords And you can always trust a cat to be a cat.]]", indeed. Cue CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

* PickyPeopleEater: Make sure you don't eat the green wobbly bit.[note:] since the

* BaitAndSwitch: Darktan's RousingSpeech starts this way, with him telling the Clan that there's something new and strong and dangerous in the tunnels under Bad Blintz ... and it's ''them''.

* PickyPeopleEater: Make sure you don't eat the green wobbly bit
* PointyHairedBoss: Poor Hamnpork, not so much leading as being pushed.

* GenreSavvy: Malicia, who can sometimes get confused about [[WrongGenreSavvy what kind of story she's in]].
** Sardines, to Darktan's astonishment, is a straighter example; he knows how to work a crowd and how people (and rats) are likely to react if given the right story to react to.